tag: SEMI

Chipmakers and OEMs
Last month, Arizona approved Google’s Waymo unit to begin testing a commercial self-driving vehicle program. And recently, Waymo released a video showing its first autonomous ride-hailing service. “This development inches us closer than ever to a ‘first-man-on-the-moon’ landmark for Level 5 autonomous transport,” said Derek Viita, an analyst from Strategy Analytic... » read more

Flexible hybrid electronics are beginning to roll out in the form of medical devices, wearable electronics and even near-field communications tags in retail, setting the stage for a whole new wave of circuit design, manufacturing and packaging that reaches well beyond traditional chips.
FHE devices begin with substrates made of ceramics, glass, plastic, polyimide, polymers, polysilicon, stai... » read more

While cryptocurrencies may still be in the infancy of market development and adoption, the semiconductor industry has certainly felt the potential of blockchain technologies. In its fourth quarter 2017 earnings conference, TSMC commented on the strong demand from cryptocurrency-related businesses since the second half of 2017. These “mining” markets are driving leading-edge business at TSMC... » read more

Synopsys' Amit Paunikar and Shaily Khare take a look at new features in LPDDR5, from improved data bandwidth and Deep Sleep Mode to WCK clock.
Cadence's Paul McLellan dives into forward error correction, a technique for automatically correcting errors in transmitted network data, with a look at why it's important and how it works.
In his latest embedded software video, Mentor's Colin Wall... » read more

The rollout of autonomous vehicles will have far-reaching impacts on technology, business and social interactions, but it also will set in motion a whole new side of technology development and new legal frameworks to prove what went wrong when these vehicles are involved in an accident.
This isn't just something to plan for down the road. The California Department of Motor Vehicles this week... » read more

Chipmakers
Last year, Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) completed the acquisition of Linear Technology. Now, ADI plans to shut down one of Linear’s fabs as well as a test operation.
“Analog Devices plans to close the smallest of its four wafer fabs, which was acquired as part of its March 2017 acquisition of Linear Technology and is located at Hillview Drive in Milpitas, California. This clo... » read more

China's fledging memory makers are expected to reach a major milestone and move into initial production this year, although vendors are already running into various roadblocks.
China's domestic vendors are focusing on two markets, 3D NAND and DRAM. In both cases local vendors are either behind in technology, struggling to develop these products, or both. And one vendor recently was hit with ... » read more

Fab tools and test
Applied Materials reported record revenue and operating profit in its first quarter ended Jan. 28. Compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2017, Applied grew net sales by 28% to $4.20 billion. In the second quarter of fiscal 2018, Applied expects net sales to be in the range of $4.35 billion to $4.55 billion.
“AMAT posted F1Q results above guidance as NAND demand, in p... » read more

At the recent Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS) in Half Moon Bay, Calif., there were a multitude of presentations on a number of subjects. The event, sponsored by SEMI, had presentations on the outlook for ICs and equipment. As part of the program, ISS also discussed the latest business and technology trends.
In no particular order, here are my five takeaways from ISS:
Ranging forecasts
... » read more